1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data processing systems and methods that use interconnected networks. More particularly, this invention relates to a system and method for providing a continuously tunable, graphic Internet navigation tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past decade there has been an explosive growth in the use of the globally-linked network of computers known as the Internet. This growth has been fueled, in large part, by the introduction and widespread use of so-called “web” browsers, such as Internet Explorer (provided as part of the Windows operating system from the Microsoft Corporation), or the Navigator program available from EarthLink, Inc. Such browsers allow for simple graphical user interface (GUI)-based access to network servers, which support documents formatted as so-called “web pages”.
The “World Wide Web” (WWW) is that collection of servers of the Internet that utilize the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is a known application protocol that provides users access to files (which can be in different formats such as text, graphics, images, sound, video, etc.) using a standard page description language known as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
HTML provides basic document formatting and allows the developer to specify “links” to other servers and files. Use of an HTML-compliant client browser involves specification of a link via a Uniform Resource Locator or “URL” (e.g., www.census.gov). Upon such specification, the client makes a request to the server identified in the link and receives a “web page” (namely, a document formatted according to HTML) in return.
According to the networking protocol for the WWW (i.e., TCP/IP networking protocol), each URL has an associated numeric, Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address denotes both the server machine, and the particular file or page on that machine. Meanwhile, the URL functions as a mnemonic from the user's standpoint, offering generally some degree of sensible correlation with the page's identity.
Associated with the WWW are a number of web server sites functioning as “search engines” which provide access to indexed (e.g., web page creator supplied keywords) information to locate web pages that are of interest to a user. In general, these search engines search large, proprietary databases for matches against a set of user supplied keywords. A list of web pages which match the user's supplied keyword search is then returned to the user's web browser. The list of matching web pages is presented by the web browser program on the user's computer display as a list of links to the matching web pages. The user, in order to discover the nature or characteristic of the resulting links, must open the web page and examine it, often requiring several stages of time-consuming, link tracing to make a determination as to the value of the result.
While this method is adequate in many instances where explicit keyword terms are available, specifically where well-defined searches are undertaken, it does not provide the user with any of the intuitive or associative information relating to a particular search. Additionally, this method does not provide well for an exploratory mode of database searching in which the searcher is just generally searching and reacts by temporarily suspending the search when he/she comes across a particular site of interest; as, for example, one does in tuning a radio receiver to search until a radio station of interest is found.
Further contrasting the typical Internet search with a broader, more exploratory type of searching, it is seen that, in the typical Internet search, the user must first enter explicit keyword information, then observe the results of that search (generally a list of possible website containing the keyword), then individually inspect various of the listed websites to determine their relevance to the searcher's interests. Meanwhile, in the exploratory, radio tuning situation, a searcher may tune continuously through the given radio spectrum, and is presented with audible cues to the nature of the program content at each station. This searcher may then easily skip radio stations that are of no interest, with little time investment in further examining such stations.
From this comparison, it can be noted that the prior art of WWW database searching does not extend to include this type of exploratory searching. Although so-called “artificial intelligence” techniques have variously been applied to Internet search methods, they do not, in general, present the user with a significant departure from traditional search methods in which the search output is a list of potential sites of interest.
A key means for attempting to increase the efficiency of WWW keyword. searching is the use of meta-tags. Meta-tags are a kind of instruction to the computer reading a web page. They always go in the header (between the <head> tags) of a page. The use of meta-tags can provide web page creators with a means to retain some control over how their page is indexed in the various search engine databases. For example, meta-tags may be chosen for their value in characterizing a web page more generally than a singular keyword. However, even with such choices, the overall effectiveness of meta-tags for searching purposes still appears to be limited by the fact that current WWW browsers do not generally permit a wide range of meta-tag format and content.
The WWW constitutes an unusual database that differs greatly from those upon which the original browsing or searching techniques were developed. The WWW is extraordinarily vast and varied it is certainly not focused or constrained by any enterprise's subjects of interest.
When a database is relatively constrained in its content, for example, when it has been created by a manufacturer to track its inventory, it is useful and customary for the database user to rely upon explicit search terms, and the user generally expects similarly constrained results. However, on the WWW, users' interests and search purposes cover a vast range, and a user's foreknowledge regarding appropriate search terms or likely results is likely to be much vaguer. This suggests the need for WWW search methods that do not require the inputting of keywords.
The prior art of searching for specific web pages generally involves the use of names or URL's rather than the numeric IP address. This is done both for convenience and due to the lack of appropriate navigation tools that might exploit the value of using, in some instances, the numeric address.
Manipulation of IP addresses for the purpose of mapping a network of computers has been used. In such cases, the objective has usually been to produce a comprehensive overview of the nature and extent of various pages on the network, thereby forming a “map” of the network. Such exercises represent long-term and relatively static applications of direct IP address manipulation, and a client or user does not directly control the address manipulation. Nonetheless, IP address manipulation, or “IP tuning,” appears to offer an opportunity for broad Internet exploration, if such a technique could be coupled with an appropriate user interface.
Thus, there exists a need to provide a WWW user and searcher with a navigation tool which more fully accommodates the vastness of the WWW, and which permits a searcher to comprehend more fully the potential results of his/her search efforts.